Assembly passes a package of doomed workforce reforms

The state Assembly approved a package of Republican-backed bills to reform workforce development and unemployment benefit programs this week, but a promised gubernatorial veto will doom them.

Among the bills are a measure that would prohibit local governments from implementing guaranteed annual income plans, that would require the state to collect and report standardized workforce metrics, that would expand academic and career planning services for grades 6-12 students, and that would ensure that the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) must approve any federally authorized unemployment insurance (UI) expansions.

Assembly majority leader Tyler August (R-Walworth) said the state needed the measures to address an ongoing worker shortage.

“Employers all across Wisconsin are facing a workforce shortage,” August said. “Assembly Republicans’ goals are to increase labor force participation through key program reforms, while also providing training and resources to ensure success.”

August said the state’s unemployment program should be a safety net to help individuals who are in need after an unexpected job loss.  

“The program needs to be refocused to get unemployed individuals back into the workforce as soon as possible,” he said. “We’re also focusing on creating new workforce metrics to help measure program performance and increasing safeguards to combat fraud.”

State Rep. Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond du Lac) said the reforms would also stimulate economic growth and ensure that tax dollars are used effectively on programs that deliver real results.

“Too often, the government becomes unaccountable, bloated, redundant, and slow to serve the hardworking people who fund them,” O’Connor said. “I am proud to vote for a package of bills that promote personal responsibility, strengthen workforce readiness, and ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently. Together, these bills reflect a commitment to limited government, fiscal discipline, and policies that empower individuals over bureaucracy.”

O’Connor said the measure requiring the state to collect and report standardized workforce metrics will allow policymakers and employers to make informed decisions and would prioritize data over bureaucracy.

The update to unemployment insurance laws also aligns state practices with federal guidelines for Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) grants, O’Connor said. 

“These reforms promote accountability and ensure that recipients are actively looking for work,” he said.

O’Connor also said guaranteed income programs merely encourage dependency on government rather than self-sufficiency. Finally, he said the measure requiring JFC approval of UI university expansions would restore the legislature’s constitutional role in budgetary oversight by preventing executive overreach, while protecting taxpayers from open-ended federal spending mandates.

Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) said the important measures reinforced work search requirements, improved ID verification, and ensured that benefits are paid to those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, as well as prevented “ghosting,” which is when an unemployment insurance recipient fails to follow up with job interviews or even jobs. 

“These bills strengthen Wisconsin’s UI program by sending a clear message: the work search requirements matter, and they must be taken seriously by both UI recipients and DWD,” Neylon said. “Mismanagement in DWD can no longer be tolerated when it comes to UI.” 

As for a guaranteed income, Neylon said the job of a legislator is to protect taxpayers, not let local governments give away public dollars with no strings attached. 

“This isn’t about ideology,” he said. “It’s about fairness.”

Unemployment is a safety net, Neylon said, but it should only catch those who truly need it. 

Democrats disagree

Democrats opposed the reforms, saying they would kick those who are already down.

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) said unemployment insurance was fundamental to Wisconsin values.

“Unemployment insurance is a Wisconsin idea, through and through, the product of hard work and the actual blood of socialists and labor organizers who understood that unemployment insurance is an investment in workers and our workforce,” Clancy said. “Sadly, [these bills] take a group of people already hit hard by disastrous Republican policy — many of whom have already lost their jobs because of the Trump regime — and seeks to make their lives even more difficult by suggesting that they’re bad people trying to defraud the same unemployment insurance system they’re accessing just to get by.”

The changes, Clancy said, would swamp the Department of Workforce Development with more bureaucracy, slowing down its ability to help at a critical time. 

“It’s inhumane for Republicans to cut away the safety nets that they make necessary,” he said. 

Clancy was especially critical of the bill prohibiting local guaranteed income programs, saying many studies show how effective unrestricted cash transfers are, especially to new mothers.

“We know that giving cash to people in poverty helps them not to be poor,” he said. “In Milwaukee, we’ve seen folks use the benefits of these programs to pay rent, to buy a vehicle to get themselves to work and school, and even to take a few weeks off after the birth of their child to bond with them. The data supports this clearly, if only the authors would read it.”

Clancy said the bills have wasted yet another day on legislation that Evers has already vetoed, and will veto again.

Rep. Robin Vining (D-Wauwatosa) said Wisconsinites deserve better from the legislature.

“Republican lawmakers are once again politicizing this legislature instead of proposing solutions that actually help Wisconsinites,” Vining said. “The bills before us today do not respond to the issues Wisconsinites face, but make it harder to obtain their earned benefits, give special treatment to business courts, and take away local control from local governments.”

Wisconsinites deserve better than what this legislature is doing, Vining reiterated.

“The metaphor is pretty clear for Wisconsinites right now,” she said. “To those who are struggling, Republican lawmakers won’t help you, but they will use you as a pawn in their political game. Look at what we are doing here today–look at all the bills we are voting on. Republican lawmakers aren’t helping people, but oh will they use hurting people for their own political gain.” 

Now is the time to address the issues that Wisconsinites want lawmakers to work on, not divide everyone by passing legislation that only hurts hard-working Wisconsinites, Vining said. 

“It is time for this legislature to seek common ground for the common good by addressing the needs of Wisconsinites,” she said.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.